Dec NPD: Xbox 360 outsells PS3 by 2:1

by Dustin Burg on Jan 15th 2009 7:35PM

You can let go of all that anxiety you've been experiencing while waiting for December's NPD sales figures to be released, because we have 'em and are nice enough to share.

For December, the NPD group is reporting that the Xbox 360 performed as expected, selling a satisfying 1.44 million units which is double that of the Playstation 3's 726K, but way (way, way) below the Wii's 2.15 million in sales. 360 software sales also did well, with World at War taking the number two spot with 1.33 million copies, Gears 2 selling an additional 745K and Left 4 Dead selling a very respectable 629K.

Make your way towards the break for a complete listing of December's NPD hardware and software sales as well as 2008's top ten best selling games. We won't ruin all the sales surprises, but will tell you that a certain Grand Theft Auto IV was the Xbox 360's best selling game in '08.
December NPD Hardware
DS - 3.04 million
Wii - 2.15 million
Xbox 360 - 1.44 million
PSP - 1.02 million
PS3 - 726K
PS2 - 410K

December NPD Software
1. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii -1.46 million
2. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 - 1.33 million
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board - Wii - 999K
4. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel - Wii - 979K
5. Guitar Hero: World Tour - Wii - 850K
6. Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 - 745K
7. Left 4 Dead - Xbox 360 - 629K
8. Mario Kart - DS - 540K
9. Call of Duty: World at War - PS3 - 533K
10. Animal Crossing: City Folk - Wii - 497K

Top Software of 2008
1. Wii Play w/ remote - Wii - 5.28 million
2. Mario Kart Wii w/ wheel - Wii - 5.00 million
3. Wii Fit w/ balance board - Wii - 4.53 million
4. Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Wii - 4.17 million
5. Grand Theft Auto IV - Xbox 360 - 3.29 million
6. Call of Duty: World at War - Xbox 360 - 2.75 million
7. Gears of War 2 - Xbox 360 - 2.31 million
8. Grand Theft Auto IV - PS3 - 1.89 million
9. Madden NFL '09 - Xbox 360 - 1.87 million
10. Mario Kart - DS - 1.65 million

Source

Tags: console-wars, microsoft, nintendo, npd, sony, x3f-twitter, xbox-360

Reader Comments (59)

soo if you add up all of sonys products they sold 2,156,000.

since thats good in my book =) thats sitll more then the xbox.

Spin it however you'd like...whatever makes you feel better.

im not spinning anything fact is fact you add it up and sony outsold xbox..

if im wrong then i must not know how to add.

just stating what i see.

now if npd didnt say psp and ps2 then its a different story but nope they say ps3 ps3 and psp sales.

umm yeah that is called spinning..

then by your "add it up" method, the "real story" is that Nintendo outsold EVERYONE combined...

DS + Wii = 5.19 million easily beats any other combo...

Just treat everything as seperate or else you get the dunce cap.

Might as well add in the sales of Windows PC's too since that is the PC gaming platform if we are gonna play it like that buddy.

EDITED FOR UNNECESSARY ACCUSATIONS

sure add up pc sales. and make sure you add up sony laptops and pcs that COST more to buy then windows os.

1200 for a pc/laptop

100-300 for windows op but most are bootleg soo who needs that.

Let's also put in the amount of profit each company is making..oh that's right...

It's actually a negative thing for Sony to be selling so many PS2's. Until they discontinue it, they will continue to have difficulty migrating users to the PS3. Having a smaller installed base affects Sony's ability to negotiate with developers and content providers. It also reduces their ability to generate ancillary sales, retail support, and ad revenue.

Um Wii ftw!!!??...am i in the right place?

And this, kids, is what happens when you feed the trolls.

wow fanboy spin, imagine if nintendo counted all their ds and wii sales lol, i guess whatever it takes to look good, i see it now, sony brand sells an impressive 2,156,000 consoles for the month of dec, funny how sony never did this when they were dominating with the ps2, they wouldnt include the playstation 1 even in the early days of the ps2, thats because the ps2 was selling well, but when it comes to current gen systems in america, nintendo dominated, microsoft did great, sony did ok for where their price point is.

L4d Sold soooo well.

I think word of mouth helped that game sell even better over holidays, because lord knows I never saw any marketing for it.

In LA there were severed thumb hands on all the buses for a while. Most ubiquitous marketing for a game I've seen around here since GTA IV.

A LOT of billboards in San Fran.

I fail to see why NPD numbers are important to anyone outside of the industry. Or unless one owns stock in the companies, what is the importance of these numbers?

It's useful for comparing e-penis sizes. (see top thread)

no two hardware combos matches 360 numbers this month, and funny how you didnt mention software sales, no way to spin those.

your right, but they better a console says, the more likely a big game that you want will show up on the system. more sales equal more games and a longer life span

Sony fanboys

BWHAHAAHA
PS3 = Fail
Getting it's ass kicked by a console that is a year older... and here is why

Better Hardware
Better Software
Better Online ALL AROUND
and CHEAPER than the POS3
any way you look at it, PS3 is a distant third this time around.

BWHAHAHAHAAHAHAAH

but you did get a NINFTY BLU RAY PLAYER....

Why do you find this funny, and why do you seemingly take any pride in this? Are these your accomplishments? Did you have any hand in the conception or distribution of the 360?

No? You're an idiot.

Dude, that's Jeff Bell...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Trollin, Trolling on the River...
Good work anthonyjh.
Butt...
People who get all high and mighty about Trolls need to take a step back.

Calling trolls idiots is like calling 4 year olds immature. Of course they are idiots :P

Step back; enjoy the hilarious sight of the troll wars and perhaps have a stab or too.

Anti-Trolling is pretty fun if you don't take it to seriously.

to =>anthonyjh

I find it amusing, yesI took part in it in the fact I bought the hardware TWICE and many many games, and moronic, SONY clone such as yourself try to slam the 360 every chance they get. You can't stand the fact that the 360 is kicking your precious blu ray player err I mean the POS3 ass every month now, and you guys scream yell make up lies and distort the truth in the name SONY.... Me thinks you should be teaching classes as you have a degree in being a moron.
Yah that's it
anthonyjh Professor Moron PHD!

stop being a moron. Some ppl just wanna play good games regardless of what system theyre released on. Both PS3 and 360 have some great exclusives, and I personally dont wanna miss out on any of them. Limiting your gaming experience just because of a silly little console war is just retarded imo. now GTFO.

Funny how you talk so big, yet you be a coward by not reply directly to Anthony, so he won't notice your "comeback".

@ Trekster Gamer

I guess you also forgot that the PS3 outsold the 360 the majority of 2008. It was only when the price drop that the 360 outpaced the PS3.

Either way we spin it, the wii and the DS is wiping all the consoles arses.

oh thats right lets be some ball washers for windows yay if you like that kind of stuff go for it bud..
john paul be my guest and go wash all the ceos and board members balls .. have fun doing that bud.

I'll be watching great movies on blu-ray =)

oh by the way i also have a 360. hahahaha and i have a wii i have all three systems.. =)

My TV is bigger than yours.

You seriously make all PS3 owners (me included) look bad. I was gonna reply with a "got to ps3fanboy.com" post but they'll probably kick you out...

Attention X3F bloggers!
A new Xbox system update just went live, and around 8:00-8:30. Might wanna let people know! =)

Is there any details to the update?

Thanks...

New info on the system update with pics.
It's pretty big, takes less than 5 min. to download though.

http://img50.imageshack.us/img50/8386/1232070085603ga9.jpg

Just downloaded the update. Anyone know what its about.

No clue. I sifted through nearly everything (marketplace, ui, etc.) but found nothing. It's probably just a technical update, nothing visual.
Perhaps it's even preparation for new features coming this Spring such as the Primetime channel. (which is set to include 1 vs. 100)

no resistance or lbp? hmmmm interesting

Resistance 2 and LBP did well in sales, but not good enough to make it on the charts. Especially with the Wii dominating the gaming market.

yeah but even Left 4 Dead is there!! BTW valve = Dev of the year

Left 4 Dead is highly popular. Any Xbox Live user logged in a few times to see the majority of their friends playing. Where I love both R2 and LBP, these are sales-charts, and nowadays a PS3 title is rare to make it's way into the top 10.

As for World at War on the PS3, that was expected. A lot of people purchased the PS3 just for Call of Duty 4, it's only natural to see them purchasing the next title in the franchise.

Until all of those people who bought L4D on 360 realize that they are paying for DLC that PC gamers get for free... Hmm... Sound familiar?

Valve is not dev of the year... All they did with l4d is take zombie mod (which was not made by Valve) for CSS and throw it into its own game.

Wow somguy, been a long time since you've played Zombie mod, eh? L4D is infinitely more polished than ZM.

Also, the only reason Valve is charging is because M$ is making them.

Animal Crossing?! What the f**k man?!!

Walmart has Xbox Live 13 Month Gold Card for $29.82. Choose free site-to-store shipping, otherwise it's $2.97 to ship to your home.

God the PS3 sucks.

ok so are we supposed to feel some sort of pride when we see that microsoft is making buckets of cash on the 360? i don't get why these npd reports are such important news that we get an update every 5th blog entry.

Not pride at all. I think it does help to have a system that does so well. It helps in the fact that publishers will keep bringing games to XBOX.
There are things however I don't like about XBOX/MS as a hole such as.

Xbox Live is the best online gaming experience but I think gold service should be at least half of what it currently is. Other services like streaming TV/Movies should be much cheaper.

NPD data doesn't release that often and it is important. If you don't like this sort of stuff you shouldn't be on a "fanboy" site. The more the console and games sell the more likely we are to get more great games. The more shitty games sell the more shovelware we will be subjected to.

I love these posts that drudge up the console fanboys. It's always entertaining to see how petty and insecure people are about technology. Comparing metaphors, at the end of the day is still comparing metaphors. Every time I read the comments on a page like this I substitute the console names with ice cream flavors so that it looks something like this:

PS3FB: So, I see you have some ice cream there, what flavor?
XBFB: Oh, chocolate.
PS3FB: Chocolate, eh? Well I have vanilla and it's vastly superior.
XBFB: I don't think so, last I heard more people liked and bought chocolate ice cream.
PS3FB: YOU'RE MAKING THAT UP I DEMAND SALES FIGURES.
XBFB: SCREW YOU YOUR SALES FIGURES SUCK WORSE HERE I HAVE PROOF SHOWING MINE IS BETTER
PS3FB: THAT SOURCE IS SHIT I DEMAND A RECOUNT.
WiiFB: Hey guys, I gots strawberry. Yum.
PS3FB & XBFB: THAT'S FOR LITTLE KIDS, GTFO.
Me: Heh, I got neopolitan.

As humorous as that is, it's also very true.
Me: Chocolate Vanilla Swirl (I dislike both the Wii and strawberry ice cream, so it kind of goes hand in hand)

One last thing. This is a fanboy site. Expect frequent fanboyism.

it seems as though by the time ps3 catches up to 360 in sales microsoft might announce the "xbox 720" or what ever they might call it, then drop the price on the 360 again, sounds like a competitive strategy, of course the 720 would already have to be in development slated for a 2011 release and announced at the end of this year, just a thought.

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Dec NPD: Xbox 360 outsells PS3 by 2:1

Reader Comments (59)

Posted: Jan 15th 2009 7:42PM (Unverified) said

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